30+ Vegan Air Fryer Recipes, Because I’m Obsessed

I’m loving my air fryer right now, and I’ve been collecting vegan air fryer recipes for quick-and-easy breakfasts, lunches, suppers, and snacks. Below is a growing list of vegan air fryer recipes, plus a little FAQ, in case you need help choosing or using your air fryer.

What is an air fryer?

I know, you don’t need yet another kitchen gadget taking up pantry and counter space. I hear you. I was like you. And then, one afternoon I threw caution to the wind, ordered my air fryer and haven’t looked back.

I’ve posted a few air fryer recipes here, but if you follow me on Instagram, you probably have a better idea of the true depths of my air fryer obsession.

Air frying is, of course, healthier than oil frying, but it’s the convenience that really appeals to me. Air frying is less messy and faster than oil frying or baking. I tend to shy away from deep frying, because cleaning up fried oil is such a hassle.

One challenge for me as a freelancer is that I suck at making lunch. When you work at home, packing a lunch seems silly, so then every day at lunch time, you end up staring at the fridge, hoping that something quick and easy and at least slightly maybe healthy will appear.

My air fryer has made this SO much less of a challenge. Because of the way it cooks food, everything cooks up super fast. And it’s a hands-off gadget, except for one quick shake mid-cooking, which means I can throw my food into the fryer, turn it on, and get back to work until lunch is ready.

My go-to has been making air fried tofu and throwing it over salad greens with a mix of fresh and air-fried veggies. I’ve been eating like a queen at lunch lately. The vegan air fryer recipes below are either current faves or high up on my to-make list. Enjoy them!

35 Vegan Air Fryer Recipes

1. Air Fryer Avocado Fries – Use this as an appetizer with dipping sauce, or stuff it into a tortilla with lettuce and salsa for quickie tacos.

6. Potato Chips – I love potato chips, and I’m so excited to make healthier ones in my air fryer! I think I want to try to do a salt and vinegar situation soon.

7. Ranch Kale Chips – You guys, I can’t stop making these! If ranch isn’t your thing, you can season with whatever you like. I ran out of dried dill, so lately I’ve been just doing nooch, oil, and salt. It’s delish!

8. Onion Bhaji – Veganopoulous provides air fryer instructions for making onion bhaji in the air fryer. Also, I’m pretty much in love with Titly, who created the original recipe video for these.

9. Fish Taco Crisp Wraps – Another awesome recipe from Kristina! These look so good with that sweet, sweet mango salsa for dipping. Being vegan is so hard.

10. Cheesy Dill Polenta – JL is working on an air fryer cookbook, so you know her recipes are on point. She cooked up these crispy polenta bites in her air fryer, and they look so good!

11. Crispy Cauliflower – Doesn’t recipe this look amazing? You could even toss these in buffalo sauce when it’s done for quickie buffalo cauliflower.

12. Churro Bites – OK, so this recipe from GoWISE isn’t vegan, but it is SO easy to veganize. Just use 1/2 cup plus a tablespoon of aquafaba instead of the 3 eggs, and use vegan margarine instead of butter. And roll in vegan sugar at the end. Boom! Pow!

Even More Air Fryer Goodness

Since publishing this, I’ve been experimenting even more with my air fryer. Here are some more vegan air fryer recipes to try!

FAQ: Shopping for an Air Fryer

A lot of folks have been asking me air fryer questions via email, Facebook, and Instagram since I first published this list, so I thought I’d include a little air fryer FAQ here for you!

What kind of air fryer do you have/recommend? (updated 12/31/2017)

In the past couple of years, I have tested many brands of air fryer. Seriously, I have been around the world and back in the past year trying different air fryers.

My air fryer journey is long and meandering, so I’m just going to cut to the chase here. There are two air fryers that I recommend:

The GoWISE USA 4th Generation 3.7qt Air Fryer, and it is hands-down my favorite, from a function perspective, and the price is right. I did not like any of the half-dozen air fryers I’ve tried as much as this one.

The Philips. the Philips air fryer is consistent and reliable. It costs a bit more, but I think it’s higher quality than the GoWISE. I do not like the basket design as much – the mesh bottom is not my favorite – but it works well. I am just incredibly picky.

What about combo ovens?

If you’re looking at a combo oven that includes the air fryer function, it’s not a bad option. I used to have the The Cuisinart Toaster Air Fryer. I found the air fryer function a little bit inconsistent, and it was harder to clean than my other air fryers.

Combo ovens cook a lot more quickly than conventional air fryers, so you need to check in more frequently when following a recipe. Otherwise, you may end up burning your food! If you do get a combo oven, I found that the convection option actually works better when following air fryer recipes than the air fryer function..

What size should I get?

Like I mentioned above, we had the 3.7qt GoWISE. It has worked great, size-wise, for my family of three!

If you have a larger family, I’d suggest considering a larger size. My Power XL was 5.3 quarts, and we didn’t really need all of that space for the three of us. As my son gets older (and starts eating more!), I think the extra room may come in handy.

If you’re cooking for one or two, a two quart, like the Black and Decker, should do the trick for you. The downsize to the two quart is that most generic air fryer accessories are made for three quarts and larger, so if you’re an accessories person, you might want to get a larger one, just for that.

Do I need to preheat?

Unless a recipe specifies preheating, I always skip it. Part of an air fryer’s beauty is that it’s small, so it heats up super quickly.

Do I really need to soak the potatoes for my fries? Soaking takes forever!

I have soaked my potatoes exactly one time, the first time I made air fried French fries. It’s supposed to help get rid of some of the starch, and technically you’re supposed to do the same thing for oven fries.

I honestly don’t feel like it makes enough of a difference in the finished fry, considering the added time. If you want to soak, go for it! If not, don’t! To make fries in my air fryer here’s what I do:

Slice 1-2 russet potatoes into fry shapes. Steak fry, regular fry, and home fry shapes all work with this method, though cooking times may vary (see note). You can use other types of potato to make your fries, but I feel like russets work best.

Toss in a small bowl with 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt, and any seasonings I want.

Air fry for 15-20 minutes at 400F, shaking and checking progress after 10 minutes.

Note about cooking time: The thinner you cut, the less cooking time you’ll need. If they seem like they’re starting to brown when you shake after 10 min, check again at the 15 min mark. They might get done faster!

Is it easy to clean?

Usually, yes! Make sure that you choose an air fryer with a basket that comes apart for easy cleaning (if it has a basket).

My GoWISE that popped the inner basket away from the outer basket, so you could easily wipe away anything that fell through the holes and clean the bottom of the inner basket, and the Philips and Power XL work the same way.

The Cuisinart Combo Oven tray comes out completely, and you can wash it with the soft side of a sponge. I did find that oil stuck onto the lower tray, so if you do use oil in your air fryer, this is something to consider.

If something is stuck on, just soak until it softens enough to wipe away with a sponge. DO NOT use an abrasive cleaner or abrasive sponge to clean your air fryer, because you don’t want to damage the nonstick surface. Regular dish soap and a regular sponge are all you need.

It is basically a little convection oven, but it’s faster than the convection setting on my oven for sure. And it preheats in 3 min bc of its size, though I don’t preheat it before cooking. I use it for frozen stuff, tofu, roasting veggies, and making falafel.

Yes! For veggie burgers, a rack is helpful, so they’re not overlapping. I haven’t done anything with gloppy batter, really, but I don’t see why not, as long as you do a single layer. You’ll lose some batter through the bottom, but otherwise it should be ok.

I was looking at an air fryer in Williams-Sonoma yesterday. I’d love to buy one but I don’t have room for one more appliance, and they’re expensive. Although, after looking at these recipes, I’m kind of rethinking it.

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